Legazpi City - The National Nutrition Council Bicol conducted the Program Implementation Review (PIR) and Planning-Workshop for LNEWS-FNS municipalities in Camarines Sur on 10-11 January 2019 at Naga Regent Hotel, Naga City as part of the monitoring of the Project Management Committee (PMC).

The activity was attended by 18 members of the LNEWS-FNS core group from Calabanga, Canaman, Libmanan, Minalabac, Ragay, and Bato, Camarines Sur. During the meeting, a representative from each of the LGUs presented the Food and Nutrition Security situation of their respective areas for the year 2018.

It was observed in the LNEWS areas that there is a fast increase in the food prices as indicated by its critical status. They see this as a factor that have affected the food accessibility in the area which in turn have impact to food insecurity and malnutrition. For the 2nd quarter, the percentage of food insecure households were considered as warning status. Prevalence of underweight and stunting were also on warning status at 17.9% and 20.0% in Canaman, Camarines Sur.

The interventions implemented by the LGUs to address malnutrition and food insecurity in their respective LGUs through the LNEWS program were also discussed along with the food availability, food access, food utilization and/or stability.

During the Workshop, the group reviewed and reported in a plenary the group’s output on the 5 LNEWS Process Component, namely; (1) Data Collection (Primary and Secondary), (2) Consolidation of data/data encoding, (3) Data interpretation and analysis, (4) Reporting of results and recommendations to the LNC, and (5) Action Response as well as the facilitating and hindering factors and adjustments done.

Before the end of the meeting, the participants drafted and presented in a plenary their Municipal Action Plan on LNEWS FNS for 2019. The regular conduct of PMC update on LNEWS FNS was agreed to be done every quarter. (NPC Reario/NO III Valeza).